Railroad track



ref; 25, 1924;

C. LEAK RAILROAD TRACK Filed Oct. 5, 1923 Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

.. .UNITED "STATES PATENT @FFHQE.

CHARLES LEAK, OF CENTERVILLE, IOWA.

RAILROAD TRACK.

Application filed October 3, 1923. Serial No. 666,326.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES LEAK, citizen of the United States, residing at Centerville, 'lll'lihe county of Appanoose and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad Tracks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the construction of railroad tracks and has for its object the provision of simple means for holding the rails in position, which means may be readily applied to any rails at a comparatively low cost. The invention resides in certain novel features which will be hereinafter fully described and: then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

. In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a railroad track showing my device as it appears'when fully assembled.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the rail supporting members separated.

. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the track showing the rail supporting members in side elevation.

The track rails 1 are of the usual or any preferred form. My invention resides more particularly in the construction of the ties or members for securing the rails in the proper parallel spaced relation and comprises metallic bars 2 and 3 which may be provided at their ends with notches 4 whereby spikes may be driven therethrough to secure them upon the ordinary wooden ties, or they may be other wise constructed so as to be firmly anchored directly in the ballast of the roadbed. The bars 2 and 3 are similar in form and dimensions and ach bar is provided upon the upper side thereof with a fish plate member 5 adapted to bear against the side of the vertical web of the track rail and rest upon the base flange of the rail, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Preferably, these fish plate members will extend up to the head of the rail and bear against the underside of the same but they should taper upwardly so that at their upper end edges or extremities they will be of no greater width than the rail head and will thereby avoid interference with the flanges of car wheels passing over the track. This form of the theopposite sides of the rails from the fish plates of the other bar,'each bar havin one fish plate bearing against the outer si e of the adjacent rail and the other fish plate bearing against the inner side of the adjacent rail. After the tie bars have been placed upon the roadbed and the rails laid thereon in proper engagement with the fish plates, the bars are slid together and this movement will bring the fish plates into alinement transversely of the track so that there will be a fish plate bearing against eachside of each rail. It will also be readily noted upon reference to Fig. 2, that the width of the fish plates is twice the width of the bars upon which they are respectively carried so that when the bars arebrought together each fish plate will extend over the base flange of the rail to such an extent that the free end of the fish plate will coincide with the edge of the tie bar which it overlaps. The lower extremities of the several fish plates are beveled, as shown at 6, so that they are adapted to be interlockingly engaged with keeper lugs 7 carried by and projecting laterally from the respective tie bars, as shown. It, will be noted that a keeper lug 7 is provided upon each tie bar in spaced relation to each fish plate thereon so that when the bars are brought together the outer beveled edge of each fish plate will be engaged by a correspondingly undercut or beveled edge of a keeper lug projecting from the mating bar. Relative vertical movement of the bars will thus be prevented so that separation of the tie bars is not apt to occur. The overlapping engagement of the keeper lugs and the fish plates will positively prevent movement of the tie bars transversely of the rails as well as vertically but there may be a tendency of the bars to move away from each other longitudinally of the rails under long-continued use, and to prevent such movement the ends of the bars 2 and 3 are constructed to be engaged by spikes or otherwise anchored in the roadbed. I also provide openings 8 through the keeper lugs 7 and the tie bars, through which fastening devices may be inserted into the wooden ties or into the ballast of the roadbed, and in addition to said openings I provide openings 9 through the fish plates which permit the insertion of lockin bolts through the webs of the rails so that t e fish plates will be positively secured to the rails and the rails held against movement across the tie bars. The fish plates and the keeper lugs will preferably be formed integral with the respective tie bars so that the devices may be delivered at the track or the line of a contemplated track, complete and ready to be assembled with the track rails. In laying the track, the tie bars are placed across the line of the track in disassembled relation and the track rails may then be easily placed over and across the tie bars with the fish plates of the tie bars in engagement with the rails, it being noted particularly upon reference to Fig. 2, that the space between a fish plate and the adjacent keeper lug on the same tie bar is amply sufficient to permit th engagement of the fish plate with the rail so that after the several tie bars have been properly engaged with the rails, the tie bars may be easily slid along the rails tobe brought into interlocking engagement. The track may thus be very rapidly laid and will be secured to the ties with a minimum effort. It will also be noted that the bars are duplicates-in form so that all the tie bars with the fish plates and keeper lugs may be cast in the same mold, and in order to bring the bars into proper position relative to the rails it is only necessary to so place the bars upon the ground or the roadbed that the fish plates and keeper lugs will project from the opposed edges of the adjacent bars. This will be readily understood upon reference to Fig. 2 of the drawing.

' Having thus described the invention, what is'claimed as new is:

- 1. A railroad track comprising tie bars,

fish plates carried by and projecting laterally'from said tie bars, and keeper lugs also carried by the tie bars and projecting therefrom in the same direction as and in spaced relation to the fish plates, the said lugs and fish plates being arranged to inter-engage upon movement of two tie bars toward each other.

2. A railroad track comprising tie bars, fish plates on the upper side of each tie bar and projecting laterally from one edge of the same, keeper lugs upon each tie bar and also projecting laterally from one edge of the same, the fish plates and the lugs being so disposed that when two tie bars are as sembled with track rails the fish plates will engage opposite sides of the rails and each keeper lug upon each bar will bear against a fish plate upon the other bar.

3. A track fastening comprising a pairof tie bars, fish plates on the upper side of each tie' bar arranged to engage track rails passing over the tie bars, one fish plate being disposed at the outer side, of an adjacent rail and the other fish plate at the inner side of the other track rail, thelower transverse edge of each fish plate being beveled, and keeper lugs on the upper sides of the tie bars and projecting laterally therefrom, said keeper lugs having their opposed edges beveled downwardly and inwardly whereby to inter-lockingly engage with the lower edges of the respective fish plates.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES LEAK. L s.] 

